Between Us
by Not Available 9999
Summary: Naruto finds himself trapped in a virtual reality, forced to fight for his own fate. Does he have what it takes to survive?


**Chapter 1**

"Ah, how nice…" a blond teen breathed out softly. This specific blond was relaxing as he leaned against a building, taking his refuge from the large mass of crowds in a small, unused alley. It was quite clean; there was no stray trash littering the area, and even if there was, the game would've taken care of it.

It had been four hours since the game's official launch, and the blond had used the time to explore the large expanse of Starting City, get to know the game system, and defeat a healthy number of mobs.

He was plenty proud of himself for leveling up once in the afternoon in the very day the game was released; leveling up was a pain, even early on, mind you.

The sudden sound of a bell echoed through the air and reverberated in his sensitive ears, and the blond felt his heart skip in surprise as he flinched. "Damn, a system announcement or something?" he mused without much care. That is, until he felt a cold, yet not unwelcome breeze envelop his hand. Frowning in surprise, the blond felt the tingles and wind slowly spread throughout his skin and body; soon, he was completely shrouded by blinding light.

When he experimentally opened his eyes, the sight of the large starting plaza was exposed to him. He was at the very place he began when he first logged in.

 _"A forced teleport?"_ he inquired quietly to himself. Checking which part of the plaza he was in, he found himself in front of a rather high clock tower. Good. If anything strange happened, he would at least be able to blitz out of the area quickly.

That wasn't the only thing he noted: many – if not all – other players were summoned to the plaza as well, thousands flashing into the open, cobblestone, circular area. And like him, the majority of them seemed confused by what happened to them; he was certain now that it was a forced teleport.

Strange. Why would they call all the players back so soon after the start of the game?

Naruto performed a slow circle, eyeing each area with quick scrutiny as he searched for the administrator that had called the meeting. He wasn't disappointed. A few moments later, the sky turned red with hexagonal shapes taking over the landscape with the words 'warning' and 'system announcement'. A slimy object found its way between the hexagons and slipped through like blood. Every player watched with morbid fascination as the blood-like liquid circle slowly formed into a cloak, and then a fully-shaped person whose face was darkened by the shadows of the cloak's hood.

"Welcome to my world," the cloaked administrator began in a deep voice. Naruto believed it belonged to a man, but he had no proof and the figure could very well be genderless. Not like gender really mattered at the moment. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba. As of this moment, I'm in control of this world."

A lot of players recognized the name and began whispering with nervous excitement about the recent introduction. What could the creator of Sword Art Online possibly want? Or was he just introducing himself and expecting applause at the end?

"Attention," The hooded figure called out, and the crowd of less than ten thousand players quickly silenced. It waited a moment before continuing. "I'm sure most of you have already noticed an item missing from your Main Menu: the Log Out button."

That got a reaction. Almost every player nodded or shouted their assent.

Naruto appeared surprised at the declaration. _"Seriously, how could I not notice that?"_ he thought to himself. The blond checked his Main Menu, just to be sure; it was true. Where the Log Out button should have been was a frightening blank space.

"However," the self-introduced man, Kayaba, continued, "this is not a bug. I repeat, this is not a bug. This is how the true 'Sword Art Online' was and is meant to be."

Naruto didn't know how to react to that, and it seemed like neither did the players around him. He was an experienced gamer, and he thought he had gone through all the possible scenarios of an online game before entering the first virtual reality game today. Apparently, he was wrong. This was a first, and he wasn't liking his first experience at the moment.

"You cannot log yourselves out," Kayaba said, ignoring the whispers of disbelief from the players. "And no one from the outside will be able to shut down or remove the 'NerveGear' from your heads. If anyone attempts to do so, a transmitter inside the 'NerveGear' will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, powerful enough to destroy your brain, and will thus end your life," Kayaba stated with a certain, calm tone that was in no way soothing; in fact, because of his words and his ill-used tone, the effect was an even higher fright factor.

Naruto didn't know if the man was joking or speaking the serious, dark truth. Taking but a glance at the other players, whose faces showed nothing else than horror, he felt himself slowly accepting that what should have been impossible… had come true.

 _"What have I got myself into?"_

A couple of screens appeared beside the hooded figure, showing screenshots of seemingly random articles on the internet. However, the more Naruto looked at each article, the more they connected, and the more disgusted he became with the man in front of him.

"Despite my warning, families and friends of some of the players have attempted removing the 'NerveGear' – an unfortunate decision, to say the least. As a result, the game now has 213 players short from its staring 10,000." Kayaba finished the sentence to the shocked looks of the crowd, a deep contrast to the dark shadow covering his face, exposing no emotion.

 _"I should have just stayed with the old computer games…"_ Naruto lamented to himself, rueful, trying to squeeze some amusement out for himself in this situation. A ghost of a smile _did_ play on his lips, but it was ephemeral, gone the very moment it appeared.

"As you can see," Kayaba began again, gesturing to the screens with a slow, higher-than-thou sweep of his heavily cloaked arms, "international media outlets have round-the-clock coverage of everything, including the deaths, even now. At this point, it's safe to assume the likelihood of a 'NerveGear' being removed is minimal at best." Seeing the hopeful looks in the eyes of the players, the cloaked figure seemed to shake for a moment, as if it was _laughing_.

"I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game," Kayaba stated in his cold, deep voice. Every player flinched, however; the way it was said seemed sarcastic. They felt that it was possible that they would suddenly drop to the ground during a walk, dead. Their body would only last a few seconds before blue polygons of crystal filled with information took its place and disappeared into the sky filled with binary numbers.

"It's important to remember the following," Kayaba stated again, regaining the attention of the worried players. "There is no longer any way to revive anyone within the game. If your health bar empties, your avatar will be deleted from the system, forever." Naruto narrowed his eyes; what would happen if their avatar disappeared? Nothing, right? He would become like a ghost player, running around, probably able to do nothing.

"And the 'NerveGear' will destroy your brain," the creator of the game added. Ah, that would explain why the avatar's livelihood would be important.

 _"So I can't afford to lose focus in a battle anymore, huh?"_ Naruto thought to himself with a surprising amount of calm, even for himself. He took a short moment to marvel and wonder at how he could take all this so lightly…

"There is only one way for you all to escape this castle now. You must clear the game," Kayaba told them. A castle, huh? If this was a castle, then they were in the very bottom of it: the dungeon. And the lower the level, the scarier it was.

A few people, probably those who knew the meaning behind the words, gasped in surprise and then narrowed their eyes in anger. This was supposed to be a fun, normal day. How could something like… _this_ happen?

Naruto, however, continued to watch with as much calm as he could muster, briefly wondering what the man meant by clearing the game. Clearing the game… he heard and read that the beta players had tried for months and hadn't even come close to clearing the game. How long would it take to finish every floor? Months? Years? A decade? He was broken out of his thoughts when Kayaba continued his speech.

"Currently, every one of you are gathered on the first floor, the lowest level of Aincrad. If you can get through the dungeon and defeat the boss, you will advance to the next floor," Kayaba told them, using a three-dimensional holographic figure of a flowing castle, divided into a hundred floors to emphasize the size and levels.

"Defeat the boss on the hundredth floor, and the game can be considered cleared." He paused to give emphasis to that last statement. Many of the players blanched; the majority of the people in the game understood video games and online games very well. Kayaba was asking them to beat a VRMMORPG. When was the last time someone actually beat a MMORPG within a short time span?

"Last but not least, I've placed a little present in your inventories." Each player slowly opened their menus, going at their own paces to find a new item in their inventory.

Naruto tapped the small, rectangular box. A few seconds later, a flash lit up in his hands, and the weight of simple mirror rested on his right palm. Another light broke through, but it wasn't like when the mirror appeared in his hands; it was on a much larger scale. Naruto turned his head to the right and noticed players suddenly disappearing in a bright haze of luminescence, and he himself was adopted by the light just a few seconds after his realization.

When the glow around the plaza disappeared, everyone was talking again, but there was a certain alarmed tone to each person's voice.

"Eh, what happened?" Naruto asked, confused, as he looked at his hands. His eyes drifted down to his clothing, which remained the same, but felt somewhat large for some reason. Other than that, it seemed that nothing had changed. His fingers unconsciously moved up to his face, and he felt his heart skip a beat as he stroked something very familiar.

"What's this? Did it change my appearance? Don't tell me…" He looked around and almost vomited at the sight of a thin man clothed in women apparel. Apparently, some people enjoyed cross-dressing on the first day of a VRMMORPG as well.

Disgusting.

But that brought up a certain question: how did Kayaba Akihiko know his exact appearance? He felt the triplets of whiskers on each cheek, and that was enough for him to know it was himself, his body. He had dropped the mirror during the glow, so he couldn't get an accurate look at himself immediately, but he was certain this was his body.

"What's going on?" he questioned, more curious than anything else, although disgust was still one of the emotions high in his list at the moment. He just saw another cross-dresser. "This is my body in real life. There should be now way for him to know that, right?" Naruto ruminated heavily before clenching his teeth in mild frustration. He had liked the tall, blond man with longer hair and slightly more muscular arms...

The deep and menacing voice of the hooded figure filled the plaza again. "Right now, you're probably wondering, 'why would Kayaba Akihiko, creator of 'Sword Art Online' and the 'NerveGear' do this?' The answer is simple: my goal was to create a world where I could control the fate of people." Kayaba continued and saw the angered glares of several players. The 'become a God' was implied, and everyone understood it. However, the majority still seemed too shocked to even change their emotions.

"Now, this concludes the official tutorial of 'Sword Art Online'," Kayaba said and closed down the screens around him. "I wish you luck on your journey to clear all hundred floors," And he disappeared, just as quickly and mysteriously as he had come, dissolving himself into the blood-like liquid and seeping through the cracks in the red hexagons.

He was gone.

The sky was then freed from the red 'system announcement' and 'warning' signs, and the players quickly began to shout in extreme agitation and worry.

Naruto walked out of the plaza and dropped heavily on a bench, looking at his feet. "What should I do…?"

For a long time, he was the only one at the secluded location. Alone, he sat quietly as a refreshing zephyr passed him with grace, making his spiky, blond hair tussle and sway with the graceful air.

Then, as if a bolt of lightning had struck him, he shot up from his seat and sprinted down an alleyway before turning around a corner. He rushed along the cobblestone streets of the town, and when the edges of fields were in his view, he redoubled his efforts to rush.

 _"I can't keep on wasting time. If what Kayaba Akihiko said is true…"_ he took a moment to actually let that thought linger for a moment. _If_ it was true… "then I'll have to level up as quickly as possible and get to the next floor," he muttered, out of breath as he panted, hand on his knees. He was now on the West Field, feeling the dying light of the sun on him as he rested the narrow road.

The boars that he had fought earlier that morning weren't there anymore, and were instead replaced with dark Dire Wolves. Each of them had viciously sharp canines, and like wolves in the real world, they traveled in packs. It appeared that Kayaba applied real logic into this world as well.

Strangely, a lone wolf walked on the narrow path toward the blond, its thin legs moving swiftly. Then, it stopped a short distance from Naruto, looking him in the eyes with its own crimson pair. The blond slowly lowered his stance, reaching for the hilt of his blade. The wolf bent down and got low on the ground, its chest nearly resting on the ground, its muscles taught and ready to explode at a moment's notice. It gave out a low growl and showed its teeth in a threatening gesture.

"Damn," he cursed, still panting. "Why does an enemy have to show up now of all times?" Naruto cursed his luck as he slid his left foot forward. A slow filling of dust flew up into the air. He wasn't very confident in his sword skills. Yet. He was still new to the virtual-reality style of gaming, so it was a daunting challenge for him to fight a creature on the run. Not to mention the fact that he was only Level Two compared to the monster in front of him, a frightening Level Three. A single level difference in a game could make all the difference.

He unsheathed his sword on his back with a smooth movement and remembered the instructions from the guide book he got at one of the stores. "Preparation state…"

He held his sword with a tight grip and brought his arm back, bringing his right elbow high into the air and his right wrist beside his hip, much like a swordsman before a duel. A sapphire blue light erupted from the blade as he got in position. Then he dashed forward, taking the initiative. His arm shot out in a straight line, his blade becoming an extension of his body.

"Linear!" Naruto yelled out as he felt the steel pierce through the wolf's skull with a cracking sound. It exploded into blue crystals that floated behind him and then rose into the air.

"Phew," Naruto breathed out in relief once the monster was gone. Placing a hand over his heart, he looked up to the darkening sky and sighed one more time before walking. Maybe it wasn't as hard as he expected?

"Though, I probably should keep a slower pace; I can't afford to fail an attack and get hit…" he thought and imagined his health bar emptying. "Happy thoughts… happy thoughts."

He sheathed his sword back on his back and continued down the road with a steady gait. According to the map on his Main Menu, the next village shouldn't be more than a mile away…

* * *

"Ah, damn it," Naruto muttered to himself as he bumped down on the soft mattress of the bed. It was quite comfortable.

He had rented a room at the village bar, and was lucky enough to get one with a comfortable bed. Yes, the very one he was laying on at the moment and sinking into with bliss. But that was after a long, _long_ and tiring walk. He had to fight his way through a whole pack of wolves, and that wasn't fun.

 _"Damn those animals…"_ Naruto thought and shivered at the image of fifteen pairs of crimson eyes in the darkness.

It took him an hour and a half to travel the distance and according to the digital clock on his Main Menu, it was currently eight in the evening. "I should be happy that they came, though…"

He'd met two players on his way to the village, and the pair had helped him defeat the creatures that could have seriously injured – or more properly, killed – him if he was fighting alone.

 _"Heh, but I'm Level Three now!"_ Naruto thought, happy with his achievement, acknowledged with a weak, sleepy smile on his lips. After taking out the last wolf with a blazing Horizontal, he had finally gathered enough experience to level up.

He closed his eyes for a bit and thought of what to do. "Go to sleep? Nah, I should find a quest to do before going to bed," he decided after a moment of thinking. He _was_ tired, but this was a game to the death now. Any opportunity that arose should be exploited, and this was a chance. So, he got up from his bed and walked up to his door, leaving the comfortable bed behind. He silently closed the door behind him and went down the stairs just as silently, reaching to the ground floor a few seconds later.

"Welcome! Do you want to have a beer?" The bartender asked cheerfully with the system-programmed greeting the very moment his foot touched the floor. He turned to her in slight surprise, having still not gotten used to NPCs actually talking to him in person. He grinned and shook his head at the bartender.

"Nah, next time, maybe," Naruto declined politely before he pushed open the front door, walking out in the village.

The local bar was the only place that was lively; the poorly paved streets were empty and the windows of the houses had the curtains drawn. The blond took a slow look about the area, analyzing his surroundings.

 _"I wonder how many players are here right now?"_ Naruto pondered out loud. His two saviors had rented the rooms to his right, but there were another two that was being used, too. That would make a grand total of five players, but he could always be wrong.

 _"And I also wonder who's using the other room. Not my business, really, but I kind of want to know."_ He turned around a corner, continuing his amble down a different street.

The farther he walked, the poorer the surroundings became in his immediate vicinity. From a lively town with a bar, the shadows became darker and the walls became more cracked and poorly established. Eventually, after half an hour of random walking, he ended up in front of a dilapidated house with a single cow lying on the small headland field.

"Wow, there are actually people living like this, too," Naruto said, mildly surprised. Taking a few slow, sure steps, he ended up in front of the house. He knocked on the door and waited a few moments before introducing himself inside, feeling somewhat bad for intruding on what could be a house for some people of lower standing. Much lower standing.

"Um, is anyone here?" He called out in an unsure voice. Silence. The place was strangely quiet and dark; the only light came from the living room, and even that seemed dim in comparison to that of a half moon, which wasn't much.

"Hello?" He tried again, taking his first steps since he entered the house; taking slow, unsure steps. No one was here.

Wait a second.

 _"What's that?"_ The blond froze as he saw what he thought was a door to a kitchen. The house was actually quite spacey for someone so poor; it had an entrance, a small living room and an even smaller kitchen, once he saw the dining area. And inside, there was an old woman, sitting quite idly and biding her time in silence.

"Oh, come in, young man," she called out from her place beside the round dining table. Her hair was grey and her face full of wrinkles, especially around her eyes, which had colors matching her hair.

"Hi," Naruto replied slowly, eyeing the small child on her lap. She seemed extremely sick; her face was completely white, and her small hands were shaking like a bookcase during an earthquake. He knew they were NPCs, but he couldn't help be sympathetic to the pair. He just hated seeing people in pain.

"Please, sit down," she gestured to a chair near her and tapped said object lightly. She stretched a bit to reach it, and this motion seemed to disturb the child, who groaned in agony. Naruto thanked her with a smile and accepted her kind offer, but not before giving the girl another worried look.

"My daughter is terribly sick," she began in such a tired tone, it mildly surprised him. He thought it was her granddaughter… Oh wait, he was surprised from the tone. Yeah, that's it… "We have called every doctor in the area, but no one has been able to cure her. It is said, though, that there is a special flower in the forest that can treat the illness," the mother informed him.

"Wait, then why haven't you gone out to get it?" Naruto asked immediately, without a thought. Then, he realized his position and leaned back in his chair. Of course, they were NPCs – normal people compared to him and other players in this game. They could have tried to use a weapon, but it was questionable whether they would even level up or not. And was it a possibility they could die?

"Sorry, I got ahead of myself. May I ask, then, how I could get the flower for you?" That seemed to elicit a somewhat practiced response. But then again, she was a mother who was worried for her child, so her worry had very good reasoning behind it.

"You'll do it? You have to fight the monsters that inhabit the forest: the Little Nepents. Some of them have a flower on their head. You have to defeat those," she explained before giving him a questioning look. A moment later, an exclamation point appeared above her head as his Main Menu was forced open.

'Do you want to take the quest, Secret Medicine of the Forest?'

 _"I knew it,"_ Naruto thought and tapped the blue button. _"I accept."_

"Thank you so much, young man," the mother said gratefully with a weak smile. Even then, she seemed years younger. It looked like stress really did make a person age at an accelerated rate physically. She bowed her head as a sign of gratitude and continued, "As a present, I will give you our family's sword, the Anneal Blade."

"Ah, thank you." He took the blade almost reverently, giving it a quick perusal. He liked it. The blond looked from the sword now in his hands and gave the mother a warm smile. "Count on me!" Naruto almost yelled and did a quick punch in the air, excited.

It was time to test his skills.

 _"Actually, I already failed against the damned wolves, but let's just say that it's good enough if I manage to complete this quest,"_ Naruto thought and inwardly sighed at his lack of strength. He would have to train some more later…

But for now, it was time to kill some plants. Time to hack some _weeds_.

* * *

The woods wasn't an easy place to travel; the trees were high and covered the light of the moon, so Naruto had a hard time staying on the narrow road without falling over a branch in the darkness. Each and every time he tripped, he cursed in annoyance.

"Damn it, I've been here for almost fifteen minutes and I haven't even found a single monster…" He growled out, frustrated. Funny, because he was pretty sure that the old lady told him to be careful as the forest was filled with them…

He carefully stepped over a fallen tree trunk and placed his hand on the leather grip of his sword, trying to calm his fastening heartbeat. For some reason, he suddenly felt like he was being observed from the shadows; which was strange, because the forest had been – and still was – silent the whole fifteen minutes he was on his trek.

He flinched in response when he heard a scream of pain echo throughout the woods, through the air from a place deeper in the forest. _"What was that? A player or just a part of the quest?"_ Naruto tensed his body from his inner question that bombarded his mind. Increasing his grip on the leather handle, the blond bent his knees and stayed still, listening with upmost attention for another sound. After a moment of silence, he began walking again…

Then suddenly, surprising even himself, he began dashing through the darkness. _"If it's a player that's been attacked… I'll have to hurry up and find him or her!"_

He ran past the trees in the direction of the shout, almost falling over a branch multiple times, and got to a clearing a moment later. "Where…?"

He was breathing heavily, trying to regain himself, when he heard the roar of a creature somewhere near him. He shot his head in the direction of the roar, his blade unsheathed in his hands and he restarted his sprint, despite the tiredness invading his legs and the struggle to breath increasing. _"It's serious! I knew it!"_

When he finally got to the destination, he was left in awe at the sight of almost a hundred giant creatures surrounding what seemed like a player. _"What are these monsters?"_ He narrowed his eyes. Questions could be answered later, but lives had to be saved today.

 _"Damn it, I've got to help!"_ Mentally smacking himself across the face for hesitating in the middle of a chaotic fight, he charged forwards with a roar of his own, his blade already turning blue with power. The moment the first monster was in range, the sword drawn behind his back disappeared in a blue light, slashing across the back of the unprepared opponent. "Slant!"

The monster erupted into crystals, but Naruto didn't see them float into the air; he was already going at the next monster, ducking and dodging attacks from monsters that noticed him. He sliced one in two and gave another a deep hole in its stomach, though he didn't notice a third one turn around and prepare an attack from behind.

 _"Damn it!"_ Naruto thought as he felt the air forced out of him. He was sent flying before he skid on the ground, only stopping once he crashed against the trunk of a thick tree. _"That hurt."_

He picked himself up and brushed a bit of dirt off his clothes before charging again with increased fervor. "The player in there, can you hear me!?" He shouted. There was moment of silence before a response broke through the noise of slashing and the growls of the monsters.

"Yeah, let's make it out of here together!" Naruto heard as he ducked under one of the creatures' attacks and cut off its legs. Another one down. And that was how Naruto fought, cutting his way through the ranks of monsters, a single existence destroyed one at a time, eventually making his way to the center of the circle of monsters. Once he got to the center, he found the other player struggling against another one of the plant monsters, but a quick counterattack performed by the young boy, and the monster was now crystals.

The teen had raven colored hair and basic clothing and armor covering his body. Sweat was pouring down his face as the raven haired boy skid his feet, checking his immediate vicinity to see which monster was the most dangerous at the moment based on position. The boy gave Naruto a quick look over his shoulder, already recognizing his presence.

"We can't defeat them with just the two of us. We have to clear a path and run away!" the boy shouted. Naruto nodded his head, charging with the teen now next to him.

"I know! We can go this way!" Naruto yelled and slashed through three of the creatures with a Horizontal, starting a pattern. They would fight through the creatures, taking only a few feet at a time. A few endless minutes passed, and their goal was suddenly seen. An opening in the ranks of monsters. Naruto dashed forwards, suddenly jumping over the heads of the monsters, using one of their heads as a springboard as he flipped over them.

Naruto turned around to check on the raven haired boy, but he was already beside him. The boy quickly slashed through a swinging vine from one of the monsters, preventing Naruto and himself from getting harmed, before countering with a quick thrust using Linear.

 _"He's good…"_ Naruto thought and realized how big the gap in skill and reaction between the two of them was. The blond hadn't even seen the attack coming. However, this wasn't the moment for idle thoughts. He quickly jump to avoid a head butt from one of the creatures before running again. "Hurry up! Safety is only a few hundred feet away!"

The boy gave him a nod after he pierced the abdomen of another monster, his dark, obsidian eyes black as night. "Follow me when we get out! I have a quest to complete!"

 _"A quest? It couldn't possibly be the same as mine, right?"_ Naruto thought, surprised. Then he realized that the monsters they were fighting were the very ones mentioned by the old lady. His eyes quickly scanned the area. His eyes zoned in on one of the monsters; it was a bit different from the others. It had a flower on its head. _"Found it!. It's just like she said it would be."_

Naruto rushed from his position next to the surprised teen, got past a pair of monsters by sliding on the ground under their attacks. Once he was back on his feet, he dashed forwards and delivered a powerful slash to his target and saw its health go down to the yellow zone. Didn't matter. It was dead either way.

"Here comes the final blow!" he shouted, already in the air with his sword, glowing red, held high above his head. He brought it down with a deadly Vertical, cutting through its skull with an unforgiving slash. His Main Menu suddenly opened again, and he gave it a tenth of a second before returning his attention to the issue at hand: the large number of monsters still salivating at the two humans.

'Fruit of Nepents have been added to your inventory!'

 _"Yes! Now, I just have to get out!"_ Naruto thought and had to bend his body in an almost impossible angle in order to avoid the incoming attacks from two of the Little Nepents that he had bypassed.

"Over here!" The raven haired boy shouted from a distance away. He dodged one of the giant creatures' leaves before running deeper into the forest, free from the group of plant monsters.

"I know!" Naruto shouted back, although he wasn't exactly sure where the teen had ran off to. He would have to trust his ear again. Naruto dodged another attack from one of the monsters and disengaged, immediately turning tail and sprinting after the other teen as if his life depended on it. Well, it kind of did.

They dashed through the darkness of the woods, looking back a few times to see if they were being chased. They didn't see the monsters, but the hungry growls were enough for them to know they were _too_ close. After five minutes of painful running, they dropped to the ground outside the forest, gasping for their breaths.

"Ah… that was close. I've never ran so hard in my life." Even getting that much out of the blond was a struggle as he filled his lungs with precious air. He was on the ground with his back flushed against the grass, breathing heavily as his chest rose and sunk at an accelerated rate.

"Yeah, too close. But I did get the item I was searching for," the raven haired boy told Naruto. The blond looked over only with his eyes and gave the boy next to him a frown.

"You're not talking about that flower, right?" Naruto asked curiously. That got a look of surprise from the other boy.

"You're taking that quest, too?" He asked, his eyes giving Naruto an analytical gaze. Naruto looked away and stared up at the sky full of stars. The blond closed his eyes and sighed, suddenly feeling sleepiness spreading throughout his body.

"Yeah, though I had a hard time finding the monsters. A huge part of the forest was empty. I didn't really have an idea on how my target looked…" Naruto told the other boy sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head, raising it from the grass to allow the action. The blond suddenly opened his eyes, looking at the teen again. This time, he spoke with a inquisitive tone. "Just wondering, what the hell was that back there? Why were there so many monsters there?" The black haired boy remained silent for a moment, looking away from Naruto as he played with the blade in his hands.

"My partner tried to kill me by releasing a trap," he finally told him, now looking into the forest with a blank face. He continued his explanation. "We found one of the flowers after fighting for a few hours. I guess that he didn't want to wait a few more hours to get a second one, so he decided to use a trap and tried to run away with the flower. It backfired on him; the trap was to use a gas that would make all the creatures in the area surround the place." Naruto nodded his head in understanding.

"So that's what happened. Then what happened to the other boy?" Naruto asked, worried, although very upset with what he heard.

The other teen stayed silent for a moment.

"Did you know Hiding doesn't hide your scent?" There it was. Naruto made the conclusion that the partner had probably died.

Depressing.

Naruto sat up and stretched his arms as he yawned, closing his eyes and opening his mouth wide. He then stood up and leaned back with his hands on the very bottom of his back, cracking his spine. Giving the black haired boy, who was still sitting, a grin, he said, "Well, shouldn't we get going and complete the quest?"

"Yeah, you're right," the raven haired boy replied with a nod before standing up himself. The two walked side by side on the narrow road. A few minutes later, they were back at the house and had turned in the fruits of their labor. After completing the quest and getting their reward, Naruto remembered something and almost palmed his forehead for forgetting. Instead, he just stopped walking on the street, and the other boy copied Naruto, looking at the blond with a confused gaze.

"By the way, what's your name? Mine's Naruto!" he introduced himself for the first time. With a wide smile on his face, he brought his hand forward.

The boy looked at the hand, and then looked back up at Naruto with a bit of hesitance. But after a moment of silence, he did a slow blink, and a soft, shy smile crossed his lips.

"Kirito. Nice to meet you."

* * *

 **Some of you might've seen this story before. I've decided to start working on it again. Expect the second installment to be up next week.**

 **Review? I'd be really glad if you took one minute to write a few words. Arigatou.**


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